SPEECH 

(By  Request) 


JOS.  B.  CUMMING 

AT  A MEETING  OF 

AN  INSTITUTE  OF  COLORED  TEACHERS 

AT  AUGUSTA,  GA. 

JULY,  1900. 


Chronicle  Job  Print, 
Augusta,  Ga. 


Mr.  Chairman  and  Friends:  I recall,  when  I hear  this 

generous  applause,  a text  of  scripture.  I am  aware  I am  in 
the  presence  of  preachers  and  I may  not  give  it  correctly,  and 
I ask  their  indulgence  while  I quote  it  as  nearly  as  I can: 
“Let  not  him  who  putteth  on  his  armor  boast  himself  as  he 
that  taketh  it  off."  A public  speaker  is  always  gratified  by 
applause  ; but  its  true  value  and  its  true  meaning  depend  upon 
the  stage  of  his  remarks  when  he  receives  it.  At  the  com- 
mencement, as  now.  it  is  simply  a manifestation  of  your  good 
will  and  I accept  it  as  such  and  I accept  it  with  gratification. 
But  it  may  not  come  at  the  end.  If  it  should  come  at  the  end, 
it  will  be  a mark  of  your  approbation.  I do  not  know  that  I 
shall  get  your  approbation  this  evening.  I should  like  to  have 
it;  but  I would  not  get  it  from  any  assembly  at  the  sacrifice 
of  what  I consider  right  and  true.  I expect  to  speak  to  you 
plainly.  I expect  to  speak  nothing  but  the  truth — or  what  I 
believe  to  be  the  truth.  But  uiflortunately,  the  truth  is  not 
always  agreeable.  Of  course  I shall  speak  to  you  as  a friend. 
When  I say  “friend”  the  word  has  a double  meaning  in  my 
thoughts.  It  means  that  I am  your  friend,  and  that  I believe 
that  you  are  my  friends — that  you  are  friendly.  I hope  so. 
The  first  proposition  I know  to  be  true  ; I know  that  I am 
your  friend.  I do  not  say  a friend  of  every  individual  member 
of  this  assembly  for  most  of  you  individually  are  unknown 
to  me;  but  as  I look  over  this  audience  I see  individuals  whom 
I know  as  my  friends.  I say.  friends.  Why  not?  Why  should 
not  my  heart  swell  with  friendship  when  I look  upon  an  as- 
sembly of  your  race?  As  I stand  here  tonight  my  thoughts 
go  back  to  other  days  ; for  I am  an  inheritor  of  old  tradi- 
tions. I have  lived  under  two  civilizations — that  which  passed 
away  in  1865,  and  that  which  has  existed  since.  I am  the 
inheritor  of  the  old  as  well  as  the  possessor  of  the  new.  And 
from  the  inheritance  has  come  a friendship  that  grew  out  of 
the  old  relations- — relations  that  cannot  be  appreciated  by  this 
generation.  They  were  very  close.  They  were  very  true. 
There  is  no  language  with  which  we  can  express  them  and 
there  is  no  future  generation  that  will  ever  know  what  they 
were.  They  are  past  and  gone  ; but  to  me  and  to  you  few 
who  remain  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  them,  they  are  a beauti- 
ful memory. 

Another  reason  why  I should  have  this  sentiment : I 

recall  those  four  years  of  war,  when  the  white  men  of  the 
South  had  to  leave  their  homes,  their  property,  their  wives, 

3 


their  children,  their  all.  They  left  them  in  the  hands  of  your 
ancestors,  and  in  the  hands  of  some  of  the  gray  heads  I see 
around  me  now.  They  were  in  your  power.  But  how  beau- 
tiful, how  unswerving  was  the  fidelity  with  which  your  people 
stood  by  my  people  in  those  days.  I regret  to  note  that  that 
fact  is  forgotten  by  the  younger  generation  of  the  white  peo- 
ple. It  ought  never  to  be  forgotten.  It  ought  to  be  blazoned 
on  the  pages  of  history,  as  it  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
evidences  of  fidelity  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  time. 

I recall,  too,  a man  who  was  my  friend,  a man  of  your 
race,  a man  born  in  his  condition  of  life  in  the  same  family  in 
which  I was  born  in  my  condition  of  life.  He  wrent  with  me 
early  in  the  war,  and  he  came  back  with  me  at  its  close. 
For  weeks  at  a time  there  was  scarcely  a d’ay  and  never  a night 
when  he  could  not  have  left  me  and  accepted  freedom,  but 
he  preferred  to  stay  by  me;  not  merely  to  serve  me,  but  to 
protect  me,  and  after  the  war  for  thirty-five  years  he  remained 
my  friend,  and  it  was  only  a few  weeks  ago  when  your  minis- 
ter was  one  of  those  who  officiated  at  his  funeral.  He  w^as 
one  who  had  spent  a generation  of  life  as  a slave.  A good 
man,  one  whom  all  had  grown  to  respect,  and  what  was  of 
much  less  consequence,  my  friend  to  the  last. 

Now  I say,  that  under  these  circumstances,  it  is  not 
strange  that  I speak  to  you  as  a friend.  Whatever  I say  will 
be  with  the  deepest  friendship,  and  whatever  I may  say  that 
may  be  in  itself  unpleasant  shall  be  entirely  respectful  both  in 
word  and  in  spirit. 

1 was  asked  to  address  you  upon  the  legal  status  of  the 
teacher.  I said  to  Professor  Walker,  who  brought  me  the 
invitation,  and  with  whom  I had  correspondence  and  cover- 
sation,  that  that  was  a very  narrow  subject,  that  really,  if  I 
confined  myself  to  the  letter  of  that  subject  the  best  thing  I 
could  do  would  be  to  take  the  Acts  of  the  Legislature  and 
read  them  to  you  and  sit  down.  But  I said  I preferred  to  do, 
with  his  permission  and  with  the  permission  of  the  Institute, 
what  the  preachers  sometimes  do — take  a text,  and  talk  about 
anything;  and  I said  to  him,  as  I say  to  you  now,  that  I would 
take  that  narrow  text  and  discuss  some  larger  and  broader 
questions. 

I intend  in  what  little  I shall  say  to  you  to  tell  you  what 
the  teacher  should  teach.  I will  say  this  in  reference  to  the 
teachers  themselves.  They  occupy  a vantage  ground.  In  the 
first  place,  presumably,  and  actually,  they  are  among  the 
most  intelligent  of  your  fellow  citizens,  the  best  educated. 
They  are  the  persons  whose  calling  gives  them  the  opportunity 

4 


and  the  leisure  to  read  and  to  reflect,  and  especially  it  gives 
them  the  opportunity  of  inculcating"  their  views  upon  those 
who  come  in  contact  with  them.  They  are  in  a position  to 
wield  a great  influence,  and  they  ought  to  do  it,  if  I may 
presume  to  instruct  other  people  in  their  duties.  They  ought 
to  do  it  in  a broad  and  wise  spirit.  When  I say  that  f propose 
to  tell  you  what  the  teacher  ought  to  teach,  I do  not  mean  to 
say  what  he  ought  to  teach  out  of  the  books.  I look  outside 
of  the  tex't  books,  and  think  of  those  great  practical  questions 
which  affect  your  people  and  my  people,  and  those  are  the 
questions  to  which  I would  direct  the  attention  of  the  teach- 
ers of  this  Institute. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  first,  thing  that  the  teacher  should 
understand,  thoroughly  grasp  and  take  in,  is  the  environment, 
the  surroundings  of  the  race  to  which  he  belongs.  Now  I 
know  that  the  first  and  most  salient  fact  in  that  connection  is 
American  citizenship.  We  are  all  here  tonight,  without  dis- 
tinction of  race  or  ancestry  or  color,  American  citizens.  We 
are  all  to  that  extent  upon  the  same  plane.  We  all  have  the 
same  rights,  at  least  theoretically  before  the  law,  but  there  is 
something  'that  is  deeper  and  stronger  than  the  law,  and  that 
is  the  race  feeling;  and  lie  would  be  an  unwise  man,  be  he 
teacher  or  preacher,  if  he  ignored  that  factor.  No  law,  no  con- 
stitution, can  be  so  levelling,  and  make  things  so  uniform  as 
to  obliterate  that  which  the  Father  of  us  all  has  seen  proper 
to  create.  It  will  not  down.  You  cannot  ignore  it.  You 
cannot  overcome  it.  It  is  there,  and  there  is  no  man,  who  is  a 
wise  teacher,  that  will  close  his  eyes  to  that  great  fact. 

And  so  you  find  yourselves  in  the  midst  of  another 
race.  What  is  your  relation  now  to  that  race  in  seme  of  the 
great  factors  which  must  control  our  existence?  In  numbers, 
for  instance?  Your  numbers  are  fewer.  I am  not  prepared 
to  say  whether  the  white  race  quite  doubles  your  race  in  the 
Southern  states.  You  teachers  know  better  than  I.  But  there 
is,  at  any  rate,  a great  preponderance  of  the  white  race.  Not 
only  is  there  this  preponderance  of  the  white  race  at  this  time, 
but  it  is  a preponderance  that  is  bound  to  grow.  There  are 
two  ways  in  which  the  population  of  a country  in  increased — 
one  by  the  number  of  births  exceeding  the  deaths,  and  another 
by  the  influx  of  new  people  into  the  country.  Both  these 
influences  are  against  you.  The  white  race  is  increasing  more 
rapidly  than  your  race.  You  are  getting  no  increase  by  im- 
migration and  never  will.  Your  brothers  at  the  North  are 
not  coming  to  the  South.  It  is  more  likely,  if  certain  condi- 
tions prevail,  that  you  will  go  to  them.  Though  in  that  you 

5 


will  make  a mistake.  But  from  no  foreign  parts  is  any  increase 
coming  to  your  ranks. 

When  it  comes  to  the  matter  of  wealth,  the  white  race 
is  far  wealthier  than  yours,  and  it  is  going  to  remain  so.  I do 
not  mean  that  you  will  not  increase  in  wealth.  I believe  you 
will,  and  hope  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  that  you  will. 
But  relatively  speaking  you  are  going  to  be  outrun  in  the  race 
for  wealth,  because  wealth  increases  of  itself.  The  rich  be- 
come richer.  I am  not  prepared  to  say  that  the  poor  get 
poorer,  but  it  is  certainly  true  that  wealth  breeds  wealth,  and 
as  time  goes  on  you  will  fin'd  the  disparity  in  this  respect  will 
also  increase. 

When  it  comes  to  the  question  of  intelligence  and  knowl- 
edge, there  is  no  necessity  of  discussing  which  race  has  the 
greater  natural  gifts.  But  the  white  man  is  intellectually 
better  equipped.  I know  that  in  some  things  your  race  pos- 
sesses men  of  superior  merit.  In  all  those  things  in  which  the 
imagination  plays  a great  part,  such  as  oratory,  and  perhaps 
art,  your  race  is  highly  gifted.  However,  with  the  accumula- 
tion of  knowledge  the  white  man  has  great  advantage  of  you. 
We  have  the  accumulation  of  hundreds  of  years.  You  are  only 
beginners.  So  really  all  these  elements  of  strength  and  power 
are  on  our  side  and  they  are  not  going  to  be  shifted.  They 
are  going  to  be  increased  rather  than  diminished.  You  teach- 
ers will  make  a mistake  in  guiding  the  people  that  are  com- 
mitted to  your  guidance,  if  you  do  not  make  these  most  seri- 
ous and  controlling  facts  clear  to  their  minds.  It  may  not  be 
pleasant  to  do  it.  but  it  is  right  to  do  it.  It  is  wise  to  do  it. 
As  1 have  said,  1 did  not  start  out  to  flatter  you.  I started 
out  to  tell  the  truth.  I started  out  with  the  consciousness  that 
I was  going  to  say  things  that  perhaps  would  not  be  agree- 
able, and  I am  just  on  the  eve  of  one  such  announcement. 

It  follows  from  what  I have  said  that  you  are  at  the 
mercy  of  the  white  people  of  this  land.  Y\  hen  I say  at  their 
mercy  I do  not  mean  to  say  that  you  need  cringe;  that  you 
need  s;o  down  in  the  dust ; but  I mean  that  there  is  always 
in  this  race  feeling  a latent  fire,  a dormant  antagonism,  and 
if  that  is  ever  aroused,  whatever  may  be  the  disasters  to  both 
races,  you  will  find  that  you  are  in  the  hands  of  those  that 
are  far  more  powerful  than  yourselves.  All  the  elements  of 
power  are  on  the  side  which  in  that  event  will  be  opposed  to 
you. 

Now  I have  said  all  the  disagreeable  things  I feel  called 
upon  to  say.  I want  all  who  hear  me  to  recognize  the  truth 
of  what  I believe  to  be  the  truth,  and  that  is  the  existence  of 

6 


this  radical  race  feeling,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  apt  to  breed 
antagonism  and  that  when  any  such  antagonism  is  aroused, 
the  strength  and  the  power  are  on  one  side  and  the  weakness 
is  on  the  other. 

Recognizing  these  facts,  to  which  no  wise  man  will  close 
his  eyes,  let  us  see  if  we  can  pursue  a course  which  will  pre- 
vent antagonism.  I think  we  can.  I should  be  truly  unhappy 
if  I thought  we  could  not.  But  it  is  no  easy  task.  I said  just 
now  that  I believed  that  I had  delivered  myself  of  all  the  un- 
pleasant things  that  I had  to  say.  But  I will  say  one  other. 
Let  me  tell  you  that  the  keynote  of  your  conduct  should  be 
conciliation.  Avoid  aggression.  Avoid  those  things  that  are 
likely  to  arouse  passion  upon  the  part  of  those  of  the  other 
side.  Pursue  a course  that  will  confound  your  enemies,  and 
strengthen  the  hands  of  your  friends,  whom  I regret  to  say 
are  fewer  now  than  at  any  period  in  your  history.  Do  not 
for  a moment  delude  yourselves  with  the  belief  that  the  white 
men  of  the  North  are  going  to  stand  up  for  you  against  the 
white  men  of  the  South.  The  day  for  that  is  past.  You  who 
read  the  newspapers,  you  who  keep  up  with  the  current  of 
events,  you  know  that  I simply  give  utterance  to  what  is  in 
your  own  hearts,  and  that  is  that  you  are  more  friendless  to- 
day than  at  any  period  in  your  existence.  There  was  a time 
when  it  was  different,  and  a great  wrong  was  done  to  you  at 
that  time.  I do  not  think  there  was  any  wrong  in  abolishing 
slavery.  I rejoice  in  it,  and  I do  not  believe  that  there  is  a 
man  of  my  race,  who  has  any  sense,  who  does  not.  I need  not 
say  there  was  a wrong  committed1  when  you  were  made  equal, 
politically,  with  the  white  man.  The  wrong  that  has  been 
done  to  you  since  in  this  respect,  has  been  done  by  yourselves. 
But  the  wrong  done  then  was  that  you  were  made  to  believe 
not  only  that  you  were  the  equal  of  the  white  man,  but  that 
you  were  better.  You  were  taught  then  that  you  were  in 
every  respect  equal  to  the  people  of  the  South,  and  what 
turned  the  scale  in  your  favor  and  made  you  even  better  was 
your  loyalty  to  the  Union,  and  there  was  an  attempt  to  invert 
the  cone  and  stand  it  upon  its  apex,  and  that  aroused  resent- 
ment that  has  not  altogether  subsided  even  yet.  But  there 
has  been  a revulsion  of  sentiment  in  the  North  since  that 
time,  and  now  they  are  less  your  friends  than  we  of  the  South. 
I will  not  take  up  the  time  to  discuss  these  matters  further. 
Read  what  is  said  even  in  Boston  papers  about  you.  Things 
that  would  never  be  said  in  a True  Southern  newspaper. 

Now  you  may  say  I have  presented  a gloomy  outlook 
for  your  people.  I am  rather  endeavoring  to  save  you  from 

7 


a gloomy  experience.  The  outlook  need  not  be  gloomy  except 
as  you  yourselves  make  it  so.  1 think  that  your  destiny  is 
largely  in  your  own  hands,  if  you  will  recognize  those  fun- 
damental facts,  which  I have  endeavored  to  present  to  you, 
and  shape  your  course  accordingly.  It  is  in  your  power  by 
your  own  wise  and  prudent  conduct  to  confound  your  enemies 
and  strengthen  the  hands  of  your  friends. 

■But  why  call  the  picture  gloomy  at  all?  The  effect  of 
every  picture  depends  greatly  on  the  point  of  view  and  th» 
light,  in  which  one  regards  it.  Do  not,  therefore,  dwell  so 
much  on  what  you  aspire  to  be  in  future  generations,  but 
think  more  on  what  you  have  been  in  a comparative  recent 
past,  and  what  you  are  in  this  wonderful  present.  There  never 
has  been  in  the  history  of  the  World  such  rapid  progress 
from  savagery  to  a high  civilization  as  your  people  have  made. 
But  a short  time  ago,  as  we  measure  time  in  the  history  of 
races,  your  ancestors  were  superstitious  savages  in  the  wilds 
of  the  cradle  of  your  race.  For  several  generations  they  went, 
in  the  course  of  their  progress  from  that  estate  to  civilization, 
through  the  hard  bitter  school  of  slavery.  But  we  must  all 
admit  that  there  was  no  other  school,  in  which  such  vast 
numbers  could  be  taught  and  such  rapid  progress  be  made. 
Above  all  we  must  admit  that  it  was  the  school,  which  the 
Providence  that  rules  over  us  all  permitted  to  stay  open  till  it 
had  accomplished  its  work.  And  all  because  you  are  not 
absolutely  abreast  with  the  white  race,  which  has  had  its 
hard  and  bitter  and  bloody  struggles  of  two  thousand  years 
to  reach  its  present  position,  you  are  to  become  gloomy  and 
discontented ! Let  your  thoughts  dwell  upon  the  present. 
How  much  it  holds  for  you  ! There  is  your  absolute  freedom, 
which  you  prize  so  much.  This  fine  church  edifice  with  its 
educated  and  enlightened  pastor — types  each  of  so  many 
others.  Your  numberless  schools  with  their  efficient  teachers, 
in  whose  support  the  money  of  the  State,  collected  mainly 
from  its  white  people,  is  freely  given.  The  enjoyment  of  the 
same  property  rights  as  the  freest  people  in  the  World — and 
no  one  who  hears  me  can  say  that  your  property  rigths  are 
not  protected  by  the  courts  as  sacredly  as  the  white  man’s. 
Your  personal  liberty  is  the  theoritically  at  least,  and  almost 
practically,  as  secure  as  his.  I know  that  colored  criminals 
are  convicted  oftener  that  white  criminals,  but  that  does  not 
mean  injustice  to  you,  but  shame  to  us  white  people.  There 
is  no  wrong  done  in  convicting  a colored  man  who  is  guilty ; 
but  there  in  disgrace  in  letting  a guilty  white  man  escape. 
Your  homes  are  in  a climate  which  suits  you.  The  soil,  in 

8 


which  you  can  have  as  sacred  an  ownership  as  the  richest 
and  the  highest,  responds  generously  to  your  industry.  Into 
the  homes  at  least  of  the  chosen  and  educated  members  of 
your  race  come  many  of  the  comforts  and  refinements,  and 
into  your  lives  an  almost  equal  share  of  the  material  progress 
of  this  wonderful  age — and1  to  all,  educated  and  uneducated,  a 
fair  reward  for  industry — I fail  to  see  the  gloom  of  this  pic- 
ture. On  the  contrary  to  me,  endeavoring  to  look  at  it  from 
your  standpoint,  it  looks  cheerful  and  smiling.  And  now,  my 
friends,  let  us  all  try  to  keep  it  so,  or  to  make  it  better.  I 
think  we  can  do  it.  Much,  if  not  most,  of  the  task  is  yours. 
Let  there  be  no  excesses  of  conduct  or  of  speech.  Discounte- 
nance disturbing  elements.  Put  down  your  Thomas  T.  For- 
tunes and  your  Bee  editors — these  “Long  Toms”  who  at  a 
safe  distance  fire  shots,  which  can  hurt  no  one  but  yourselves. 
If,  in  your  newspapers,  you  will  discuss  politics,  civil  rights 
and  social  questions,  do  so  with  moderation  and  reason  and 
without  passion,  avoiding  the  angry  and  bitter  word.  In  your 
pulpits  preach  the  Gospel ; that  is  a big  enough  theme  to 
claim  all  the  efforts  of  the  greatest  orator  of  any  race.  In 
your  schools  teach  the  curriculum  and  all  other  things  which 
make  for  peace  and  good  and  reputable  living.  In  your  every 
day  life  be  sober,  be  honest,  be  industrious. 

But  why  should  I go  into  details  on  this  point  in  address- 
ing this  intelligent  assemblage  of  teachers?  You  understand 
what  the  problem  is,  and  how  light  is  the  slumber  of  this 
terrible  Race  Spirit. 

Let  your  course,  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  be  such  as  to  con- 
found those,  who  are  unreasonably  your  enemies,  and  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  those  who  are  sincerely  your  friends. 


9 


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